290 replies to this topic

[Hodakaguy]

Range Baby!!

A longer range fuel tank has been on our wish list for a while now. We love to travel to remote areas, and not having to worry about fuel is a Huge benefit when traveling away from civilization. The larger fuel tank also allows us to skip areas that are high priced and fuel up where prices are lower.

We ordered the tank from Cory at Peak10Customs and had the tank in just over a week. The tank came well packaged, and nothing was damaged. The install instructions are online, and a QR code is included with the tank to access them. There is also a YouTube video showing the install that covers it pretty well...for the most part.

New tank came well packaged and in great cond.






OEM Tank before Removal.








Separating the Fuel lines.  Here I used some Little Red Caps (Normally used to cover the open tips on Caulking tubes) to slide over the open fuel lines to prevent any dirt intrusion....and yes I know what they look like lol.  These have been super handy for many uses around the shop.

Note: The links below are my Amazon Affiliate links, I make a small portion each time someone purchases from Amazon using one of my links, at no extra cost to the buyer. I only provide links to items that I personally like and use myself. i use the money to put back into my builds and support making videos/posts. If you prefer not to use my links you can search for the same items directly off Amazon. Thank you for the support!

Amazon link to the generic version of these here (Same thing and more cost effective): CLICK HERE








Removing the stock tank.  After disconnecting the fuel lines and electrical connector, removing the fuel filler tubing retaining bolts and tank retaining straps it's time to remove the OEM tank.  Here I used a jack to drop the tank down and slide it out from under the van.








A Ziplok bag keeps the female ends clean on the fuel lines.




Just a bit of difference between old and new! This is the tank the van should have left the factory with!






Here's the OEM Fuel sender assembly that will be removed and transferred to the new tank.  Make sure you clean all the dirt off and around this assembly before removal as you want to keep the internal parts as clean as possible.




They make a special tool to remove the threaded hold down ring that you can pick up at the auto parts store, that said I had a large pair of channel locks that worked perfectly.






New O-ring installed on the S&B tank, ready for the fuel pick up assembly to be installed.




I had ran the fuel tank down quite a ways but there was still some residual fuel left.  I transferred 5.2 gallons into a fuel can and will use this to pour into the new tank once it's installed, this will allow me to drive down to the fuel station for a full fill up.



Continued Below....

[Hodakaguy]

Continued from above....

 

Performing the pressure test.  With the fuel pick up assembly installed in the new tank we covered the ports and used some low air pressure to test for leaks around the O-ring seal, all good!  The instructions from S&B said that the tank comes with a rubber cap to put over the filler port then you poke a hole in the cap and put the air in at that point.  Our kit was missing the rubber test cap but a stack of paper towels with a hole poked in the middle worked just fine.








The upper vent hose assembly gets cut off the original tank and will be re-used on the new tank.




Here the filler neck assembly has been cut off the OEM tank and is about to be installed on the new tank.  There is an internal check valve that gets installed in the included rubber filler neck hose (Only snapped a picture once it was already installed in the hose).






Ready to go back in the van.  The filler neck hose clamps are left slightly loose at this point so you can rotate the filler piping up into place as you slide the tank under the van, once in place then they can be tightened up.   The instructions showed installing 3 clamps total on the filler neck but my kit was only supplied with two clamps, I had another spare on hand so it wasn't a big deal.




Getting ready to re-install.






Tank installed in place and filler neck tightened back up, guards haven't been re-installed yet in this picture.




On the rear of the tank there is a vent line that is slid through the boxed section of the frame then connected to another vent barb on the forward section of the tank during install.  The instructions show just sliding the hose through the OEM holes and letting it rest on the metal.  I was concerned about wear on the hose over time so installed a couple rubber grommets to keep the hose from resting on the metal.




On the OEM tank I had my Espar fuel pump mounted on the front metal tank guard.  Now that the new tank is installed I had to come up with a new way to mount the pump.  I bent up a piece of steel to form a mount that would attach to one of the tank strap mounting bolts, I installed a longer bolt into this location.  i didn't spend a ton of time on this making it pretty since it will be living under the van.













Continued Below....

[Hodakaguy]

Not a lot of difference in ground clearance, maybe about an inch lower than OEM.




And installed!   The install process took about 3 hrs and was pretty easy over all.  One of my tank straps was bent a little long from the factory (The 2nd strap from the front) and isn't quite touching the tank on the drivers side.  S&B seen my post on FB and reached out to me saying that had just made a production change and that strap got messed up, they are sending me a correct replacement strap....Nice!  I love companies that have great customer service and care about a quality product.  

Overall the tank is rock solid and very high quality.  It feels tougher than the OEM tank for sure.  So glad to have the new tank installed, no more range anxiety!  :-)








Hodakaguy

 

 

 

[Hodakaguy]

Teaser pics......New tires mounted up!  Oh Yeah!!

The smell of fresh rubber!  Going from 235/85-16 up to 285/75/17. This will give us a bit more ground clearance and traction for our off-road adventures.........plus I just love the looks of this combo and let's be honest; that's always a huge factor! .

Just a wee bit of difference.








And the spare mounted up on the OWL carrier, Looks sooooo good next to the Roam ladder.  






Lot's more to come......

Hodakaguy

 

[searching for nowhere]

Why did you move your spare tire to the back of the van?  To make room for the larger fuel tank?  Did the new size tires not fit underneath?  Also, how hard is it for install the spare tire on the tire frame?  Tires are heavy.  Do you have to hold the tire and align bolt holes?

 

Thanks for posting all your upgrades.  I appreciate it.  I may get a van someday.   

[goinoregon]

thx for the post, and great pics. keep up the good work

[zuber]

I just got back from DV.  The drive through Titus Cyn was rough. 

 

Anyone break an arm yet?  I've seen them one-wheelers pitch people right off when the battery dies.

[Hodakaguy]

Why did you move your spare tire to the back of the van?  To make room for the larger fuel tank?  Did the new size tires not fit underneath?  Also, how hard is it for install the spare tire on the tire frame?  Tires are heavy.  Do you have to hold the tire and align bolt holes?

 

Thanks for posting all your upgrades.  I appreciate it.  I may get a van someday.   

 

Yeah the new tires are to large to go under the van so a rear carrier was a must....I have some ideas for the now open space under the van

 

I should have taken photo's but there is a stud that screws into the carrier then you slide the tire onto the stud and it hangs there while you install the bolts.  Once the bolts are in you remove the stud.  

 

Lot's more pics to come!

 

Hodakaguy

 

[Hodakaguy]

I just got back from DV.  The drive through Titus Cyn was rough. 

 

Anyone break an arm yet?  I've seen them one-wheelers pitch people right off when the battery dies.

 

Nothing broken yet, I just turned 1400 miles on mine and we probably did 20 miles on them today.   yeah Titus is a tad rough, but nothing compared to the road going to the racetrack! 

 

Hodakaguy

[Hodakaguy]

Oooohhhhh yeah.  The UPS man brought me some goodies today!

Vancompass 6.3 kit that I ordered from Cory at Peak10Customs showed up today.......Now it's just a LOT of work and it will be all installed.



All laid out on a table to take inventory and prepare for install.






Rear lift kit (Includes the spring pack on the floor).




Front Shock mounting kit.




Front 2" lift kit and Sumo Springs.




Falcon adjustable stocks.....Oh yeah!




Install pics to come soon!

Hodakaguy